You're still functioning. You're still handling things. But suddenly, things that once felt manageable require far more effort than they should.

Why does everything feel so difficult?

In this episode of Delay the Binge™, Pam Dwyer sits down with clinical neuropsychologist Dr. Vanessa LaBode-Richman to explore what happens when stress, grief, adversity, and unresolved problems begin consuming more of our mental resources than we realize.

Vanessa introduces Pam to a concept that changes the way we can think about depletion:

Brain Dollars.

Imagine beginning each day with a limited amount of cognitive currency.

Decisions cost Brain Dollars. Stress costs Brain Dollars. Problems we're actively solving cost Brain Dollars, and sometimes the things we're avoiding continue costing us, too.

That becomes particularly important when we're trying to interrupt an automatic behavior, because even the pause requires resources.

Pam and Vanessa explore what happens when those resources begin running low, why simply pushing harder isn't always the answer, and how greater awareness can help us understand what we're carrying before we automatically react.

You'll also hear about Vanessa's FOURward Method, including the idea that not every problem should be treated the same way: some things need to be fixed, some faced, and some forgotten.

In this conversation:

• Why everything can suddenly start feeling harder
• The concept of Brain Dollars
• The cognitive cost of unresolved stress
• Why avoidance isn't necessarily free
• Why pausing before reacting requires resources
• Fix it, Face it, or Forget it
• Automatic patterns and intentional responses
• The value of journaling and reflection
• Grief, adversity and identity
• Surviving versus healing
• Recognizing when you've lost pieces of yourself
• Building resilience without simply pushing through

Connect with Dr. Vanessa

🌐 DrVanessaOnline.com
💼 LinkedIn — Dr. Vanessa LaBode-Richman
📸 Instagram — @drvanessaonline

🎧 Listen to this episode on your favorite podcast platform

🧭 Explore Delay the Binge™: The Journey

🎙️ Explore Delay the Binge™ Podcast

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Support the show

This is Delay the Binge™

Delay the Binge™ explores burnout, emotional patterns, Quiet Depletion, and the pause between impulse and action where real behavior change begins.

Through emotionally honest conversations and practical insight from experts in neuroscience, psychology, resilience, wellness, and human behavior, you’ll learn how to recognize patterns, reconnect with yourself, and build momentum one intentional choice at a time.

Because it’s not about willpower…it’s about what you do in the moment the urge hits.

Full Video Episodes
https://www.youtube.com/@PamDwyerSpeaker

Learn More
https://delaythebinge.com

Join the Newsletters

PJ Hamilton Stories
https://newsletter.authorpjhamilton.com/

Inside the Pause™ & Behind the Mic™
https://newsletter.delaythebinge.com/

Books + Speaking
https://www.tpkkconcepts.com/

⚠️ Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, psychological, or professional advice.

Delay the Binge™ is a trademark of TPKK Concepts LLC
© Pam Dwyer. All rights reserved.

What happens when doing more never quite feels like enough?

More achievement. More discipline. More control. More rules.

In this episode of Delay the Binge™, Pam Dwyer sits down with Sherry Shaban, osteopath, health and life coach, and founder of Make Peace with Food, for a conversation that begins with food, but quickly becomes about something much bigger.

Sherry explores the connection between overeating, overachieving, people pleasing, perfectionism and control, and why some of the behaviors we call self-sabotage may have originally developed as ways of protecting us.

Instead of asking “What's wrong with me?”, what happens when we begin asking:

“What is this behavior trying to protect?”

Pam and Sherry talk about awareness, delayed reward, restriction, emotional eating, identity, childhood patterns, responsibility without blame, and learning to honor the version of ourselves that once needed an old coping strategy.

This isn't a conversation about giving up ambition, discipline or growth.

It's about becoming curious enough to understand what's underneath the behavior before trying to change it.

In this conversation:

• Why doing more can still leave us feeling like we're not enough
• Overeating, overachieving, people pleasing and perfectionism
• Why awareness comes before lasting behavior change
• Behavior versus identity
• Restriction, scarcity and unwanted patterns
• Delayed reward and interrupting automatic behavior
• Curiosity instead of shame
• Moving with respect instead of revenge
• Responsibility without blame
• Honoring the person you had to become to get here
• Creating the pause that allows another choice

Connect with Sherry

SherryShaban.com
Make Peace with Food
Instagram — @makepeacewithfoodofficial
LinkedIn — Sherry Shaban
YouTube — Make Peace with Food
TikTok — @sherryshaban
Facebook — Make Peace with Food

🧭 Explore Delay the Binge™: The Journey

🎙️ Explore Delay the Binge™ Podcast

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This is Delay the Binge™

Delay the Binge™ explores burnout, emotional patterns, Quiet Depletion, and the pause between impulse and action where real behavior change begins.

Through emotionally honest conversations and practical insight from experts in neuroscience, psychology, resilience, wellness, and human behavior, you’ll learn how to recognize patterns, reconnect with yourself, and build momentum one intentional choice at a time.

Because it’s not about willpower…it’s about what you do in the moment the urge hits.

Full Video Episodes
https://www.youtube.com/@PamDwyerSpeaker

Learn More
https://delaythebinge.com

Join the Newsletters

PJ Hamilton Stories
https://newsletter.authorpjhamilton.com/

Inside the Pause™ & Behind the Mic™
https://newsletter.delaythebinge.com/

Books + Speaking
https://www.tpkkconcepts.com/

⚠️ Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, psychological, or professional advice.

Delay the Binge™ is a trademark of TPKK Concepts LLC
© Pam Dwyer. All rights reserved.

What happens when you're still functioning, still achieving, still getting everything done, but everything starts feeling harder than it should?

Speaker, consultant, and recovering overachiever Erika Coleman joins Pam Dwyer for a candid conversation about burnout, chronic stress, perfectionism, and the hidden cost of constantly proving how much we can handle.

After building a million-dollar training company while caring for her mother through cancer, Erika experienced burnout so severe that she became non-functional. She later earned a master’s degree from Harvard University focused on stress, high performance, and well-being.

Together, Pam and Erika explore why high performers often normalize exhaustion, how achievement can turn us into our own rival, and why being capable of carrying more doesn't always mean we should.

Erika shares a powerful question: If you're bidding against yourself and you win, did you really win, or did you simply overpay for success?

They also explore the difference between pursuing a destination and choosing a direction, learning to receive help, allowing growth to take time, and finding a healthier way to succeed without losing yourself in the process.

In this episode:

• How overachievement quietly becomes burnout
• Why exhaustion can begin to feel “normal”
• Becoming your own rival
• The hidden cost of always rising to the occasion
• Direction vs. destination
• Learning to accept help
• Growing without rushing the process
• Building success without sacrificing yourself

Explore Delay the Binge™: The Journey:
https://tpkkconcepts.com/delay-the-binge-the-journey/

Connect with Erika Coleman:
Take Erika's Free Achiever Mode Quiz
Discover which Achiever Mode you may be overusing and where one of your strengths could be creating unnecessary stress: Achiever Mode Quiz

Website:
erikacolemanspeaks.com

TEDx Talk

LinkedIn

Instagram: @evenachieving

Connect with Pam

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This is Delay the Binge™

Delay the Binge™ explores burnout, emotional patterns, Quiet Depletion, and the pause between impulse and action where real behavior change begins.

Through emotionally honest conversations and practical insight from experts in neuroscience, psychology, resilience, wellness, and human behavior, you’ll learn how to recognize patterns, reconnect with yourself, and build momentum one intentional choice at a time.

Because it’s not about willpower…it’s about what you do in the moment the urge hits.

Full Video Episodes
https://www.youtube.com/@PamDwyerSpeaker

Learn More
https://delaythebinge.com

Join the Newsletters

PJ Hamilton Stories
https://newsletter.authorpjhamilton.com/

Inside the Pause™ & Behind the Mic™
https://newsletter.delaythebinge.com/

Books + Speaking
https://www.tpkkconcepts.com/

⚠️ Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, psychological, or professional advice.

Delay the Binge™ is a trademark of TPKK Concepts LLC
© Pam Dwyer. All rights reserved.